With the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the " Dual Olympic City", "Bing Dwen Dwen", "Dove of Peace", "First Gold Medal" and "Chinese National Women's Soccer Team" have become hot topics, in addition to these highlighted moments in the Winter Olympic Games. Meanwhile, another spotlight of the Winter Olympics should not be underestimated - "Zero-Carbon".
On January 28, 2022, the Beijing Winter Olympic Committee released the "Beijing Winter Olympic Games Low Carbon Management Report (Pre-Games)", which states that carbon emissions of the Beijing Winter Olympic and the Winter Paralympic will achieve neutrality. In order to achieve "Carbon Neutrality", Beijing Winter Olympics will take measures to reduce carbon emission in aspects such as low-carbon buildings, low-carbon transportation. China's first launch of the "Olympic Ignition Ceremony" without actual fire in the opening ceremony is also one of the initiatives to reduce carbon emissions.
Photo credit: Official Website of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Committee
● What is "Carbon Neutrality"?
● In fact, "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality" are not new phrases, however, the two phrases are still new to most people. With the Beijing Winter Olympic Games as the " Experimental Field" for carbon neutrality, we are once again focusing on the hot issues of "Carbon".
I.What are "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality"?
"Emission Peak"
refers to a point in time when carbon dioxide emissions stop growing and gradually decline after reaching a peak. "Carbon Peak" is a historical inflection point where carbon dioxide emissions turn from increasing to decreasing, marking the unhooking of carbon emissions from economic development, and the peak target includes the peak of the year and the peak of value.
"Carbon Neutrality"
refers to the measurement of the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced directly or indirectly by an enterprise, group or individual within a certain period of time, and the offsetting of their own carbon dioxide emissions by means of afforestation, energy conservation and emission reduction to achieve "Zero" carbon dioxide emissions.
"Emission Peak" is the premise of "Carbon Neutrality", and "Emission Peak" is a process in which carbon emissions first enter a plateau and fluctuate within a certain range, and then enter a phase of steady decline, and finally achieve a state of "zero emissions", i.e. "carbon neutral".
On September 22, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced in the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly that China will enhance national contribution by adopting more supportive policies and measures, through which we strive to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and achieve "Carbon Neutrality" by 2060. In the past two years, many central enterprises have formulated their carbon targets, plans and action plans, and most provinces (including autonomous regions and municipalities) have made "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality" actions as one of their policy priorities in the next five years. Shanghai has made it clear that it will achieve "Emission Peak " by 2025.
Entering the Year of the Tiger, "Emission Peak" target is one step closer, but not all companies are ready to meet the "Double Carbon" challenge, and they are relatively unfamiliar with how to achieve the "Dual Carbon" target of "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality".
II.How to Achieve "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality"?
General Secretary Xi announced at the 2020 Climate Ambition Summit that "by 2030, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will drop by more than 65% compared to 2005, non-fossil energy will account for about 25% of primary energy consumption, forest accumulation will increase by 6 billion cubic meters compared to 2005, and the total installed capacity of wind and solar power will reach more than 1.2 billion kilowatts."
We categorized the above measures to achieve the "double carbon" goal into two directions: controlling carbon emissions and increasing carbon absorbance. The growth of Forest Stock Volume forest is to increase carbon absorption, while the controlling control of carbon emission is more challenging and requires multi-dimensional measures and the participation of more parties.
According to the expected standard that CO2 emissions per unit of GDP in 2030 will be reduced by more than 65% compared to 2005, we set out the formula for calculating carbon emissions in 2030:
The total carbon emission in 2005 is about 7 billion tons, and according to the reasonable assumption of GDP growth rate, the carbon emission in 2030 needs to be less than 10.7 billion tons; meanwhile, the carbon emission as of 2020 is about 10.3 billion tons. Apparently, there is little room for carbon emissions to grow.
Therefore, the fundamental reduction of emissions through energy structure reform is an important step to achieve the goal of controlling new emissions and reducing the existed emissions, Such reform shall include: promoting coal consumption substitution and transformation and upgrading, accelerating the pace of coal reduction, vigorously developing new energy, strengthening innovation capacity, and promoting green low-carbon technology revolution.
The national carbon market is also an important policy to promote the achievement of the “dual carbon” goal. For emissions that cannot be reduced, carbon emission quotas are strictly allocated and emissions are controlled through carbon emission compliance requirements. As of December 31, 2021, the cumulative volume of carbon emission allowances traded was 179 million tons, with a cumulative turnover of 7.661 billion Yuan and an average transaction price of 42.85 Yuan per ton. The compliance completion rate of the national carbon market was 99.5%, and the first compliance cycle was successfully closed. At present, the national carbon market covers eight key emission industries: petrochemical, chemical, building materials, iron and steel, non-ferrous, paper, electric power and aviation. Considering the large CO2 emissions from the power generation industry, the relatively sound management system and the good data base, the first batch of trading entities only included the electric power industry. With the establishment of the basic framework, the successful closing of the first compliance cycle, and the maturing of the carbon market, more industries are expected to be included in the scope of carbon market transactions, and the units included in the carbon market will have precise emissions based on the "Allowances" they hold.
In addition, the "double carbon" target cannot be achieved overnight, in order to achieve "Emission Peak" in an orderly and steady manner, there is still a need to further develop and introduce programs and rules to support the development of emission control and emission reduction work.
III.The Challenges and Opportunities of "Dual Carbon" for You and Me
While the share of carbon emissions in the United States is 14.5% of the world total and the share of the European Union is 9.7%, China's share is as high as 28.8%. While developed countries have achieved carbon neutrality with a lower proportion of coal, China has to achieve carbon neutrality with a coal-based energy structure, which is a tight schedule and a difficult task. Therefore, achieving the goal of "Emission Peak" and "Carbon Neutrality" is not only a matter of a certain region or industry, but also requires the efforts of each enterprise and individual.
For enterprises, under the "Dual Carbon" target, enterprises with high energy consumption and high emissions are bound to bear the brunt, those with low productivity face accelerated risks of being sifted out, the head enterprises' production mechanism, raw materials and supply chain reform are imminent, and other types of enterprises' carbon emissions will also be under control.
At the same time, enterprises will meet new opportunities:
The trading market for carbon emission rights and carbon financial products will become more mature and active, and the financing channels for enterprises will be enriched.
Companies that proactively lay out the emerging energy sector and achieve the decarbonization of the products and services they provide will take the lead to seize market share in the new energy sector.
Production-oriented enterprises mainly manufacturing clean energy products such as wind, light and electricity will obtain further opportunities of development.
Technology and services around scenery power generation equipment, clean energy, energy big data, carbon emission reduction, carbon accounting and other fields will get more attention from the investors.
For individuals, the "Dual Carbon" goal will also affect and change every aspect of our lives. In terms of travel, in addition to the transformation of energy vehicles and other means of transportation, urban planning and regional synergy may also be greatly transformed, such as changing the original planning of parks and residential areas that are far apart, reducing carbon emissions in travel; more integration of residential areas with nature, so that the infinite scenery can be more effective to achieve net zero carbon, etc. For consumers’ daily consumption, as a innovative model of carbon finance, “Carbon Common Wealth”converts individual’s low-carbon behavior into economic value and drives social carbon emission reduction, and the application scenario of “Carbon Common Wealth” will be more extensive. Accordingly, “Carbon Common Wealth” will also give rise to reform and innovation of business operation.
The Zero Carbon Winter Olympics is just the start of carbon neutrality, and more "Carbon Neutrality" is yet to be achieved.
脚注：
① The Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a regular press conference in January_Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China.(mee.gov.cn)
